A Filipino woman working as a household worker in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has accused her employer of raping her at least five times since starting work there last June.
The 27-year-old overseas Filipino worker (OFW) said she tried to resist every time the employer forces himself on her, but was not strong enough to stop him.
“My employer has raped me five times since the month of Ramadan. On Thursdays when his wife left the house, he would come to my room at night and force me to have sex with him," she said in an interview published on news site Arab News Friday.
The Arab News report quoted a Philippine embassy official as saying the employer’s house is inside a compound that belongs to a member of the royal family.
"The police told us to secure a permit from the governor's office so that the embassy team could enter the compound, but as it is the weekend we cannot do anything now," the embassy official was quoted as saying.
He added he may ask the Saudi recruitment agency that employed the OFW to rescue her. "If it does not comply, we'll have it blacklisted in the Philippines," the official added.
According to the OFW, she thought of committing suicide after the first rape, but thoughts about her family back home in the Philippines had stopped her from doing so.
She said her family was the main reason why she left the country to work overseas.
"I wanted to ensure that my children could go to school. That's the reason why I left them. I thought that I could supplement my husband's earnings for the children's education," she said.
The OFW has four young children, two boys and two girls. Her family is based in Butuan City in Mindanao.
She said she stayed with her sister in Caloocan City before she left for Saudi Arabia.
The Arab News report said that OFW is urging Philippine officials in Saudi Arabia to take action because she can no longer bear the thought of being sexually abused.
“I could not bear anymore the thought of being sexually abused. I hope that the embassy will do something about this," she was quoted as saying.
She said an embassy official called her Wednesday night and told her he will get a permit from the authorities so that they could enter her employer's house and rescue her.
But she has not heard anything since. “He said that an embassy team would rescue me," she added.
Arab News said it learned of the OFW's plight from a Filipino community leader last Wednesday.
The community leader was able to contact the embassy and an official supposedly told him the embassy will dispatch a team to find the place in Riyadh where the OFW was located.
“That was the last time I was able to talk to the embassy official. I called him today [Wednesday] but he was not answering," the community leader said.
“In the meantime, I have been calling another Filipina maid working nearby to call (the OFW) and try to comfort her so that she forgets about committing suicide," the community leader added. — LBG, GMANews.TV
No comments:
Post a Comment